How to paint an Acrylic Coloured Ground: Beginners Painting Techniques 

You're welcome Michael, pleased you've been finding them helpful in your paintings. Cheers, Will

jeff coles Pleased it helped Jeff, Cheers, Will

+Lee Vam (Naeux) Really pleased you're finding it helpful Lee, yes I work both just diluted with water and also adding medium. Water will keep your paint lean and matte so is perfect of you're working on many layers that you want the next paint layer to 'grab' onto. Mediums are really handy for glazing or for altering the paint consistency.

willkempartschool Ah, I didn't know that about water/mediums vs acrylic layering, thanks for the tip :)

You're very welcome Joan, glad you enjoyed it.

Much appreciated Kerrie

Hope your jug painting turned out well Lillian. Will

I've actually found the answer to my own question! I followed the impressionistic apple study on your website and you said in that tutorial to let the ground dry.

cool

Glad you found it helpful Maria. Will

It depends on what mood and feel and colour palette you're working with. Try picking one subject and then choose 4 different colours, create the same painting with the 4 different colour grounds to start to learn about the similarities and differences. Cheers, Will

+Niti Chand Hi Niti, you can change the coloured ground depending on the subject, the yellow ochre works well for landscapes, a more muted colour can be more sympathetic for portraits. Cheers, Will

Hi Wen, yes, i would paint white ontop of the ground colours, use a titanium white so its more opaque (in comparison to zinc or mixing white) You can mix a very light blush pink and have that as a base. Cheers, Will

Hi So soap, kind of you to say so, I've been busy at the easel! hope you're keeping well, Cheers, Will

You can apply a multicoloured ground but often starting with one flat tone will make it easier to judge colour relationships. Cheers, Will

willkempartschool I would be interested in seeing how you would do it, as I have an idea how I would, but amateur here. Thanks for the reply 😀

Hi Uyen, yes you can, check out my landscape painting tutorial which demonstrates the next steps. Cheers, Will

Hi Lisa, it can work well, you won't get as an intense a colour, you can see me mix in colour with gesso at the start of this lesson: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-LvThLQpXshA.html Cheers, Will

Yes, as long as you dilute the acrylic with a little water when you apply the ground. Cheers, Will

Hi Gwendolyn, you don't always have to use a coloured ground, it's a classical painting method that can be very handy for judging tones in your paintings. Try painting the same subject , one with a coloured gorund and one without and see which you prefer. Cheers, Will

That's excellent colour observation skills!

willkempartschool ...haha thanks...you're the boss, boss!

Hi Tofi, I received a reply from Golden Paints technical support team regarding the thinning of acrylic paints, I’ve posted it below as I often demonstrate with Golden Paints and hope it helps put your mind at rest: "The cautions against thinning acrylics beyond 30% (or some similar figure) is common to run across and is something we often find ourselves having to correct, at least in regards to our own paints. We cannot, of course, comment about other manufacturers’ products, where performance can differ. So the following is really only about our brand and is not a blanket statement. The first thing to note is that our Fluids and Heavy Body acrylics can easily be thinned up to one part paint to one part water, or a 1:1 ratio, and maintain excellent adhesion onto absorbent surfaces. In fact, even when testing this on a non-absorbent material like Plexiglas, the paints still formed good films with no adhesion failures after being allowed to fully cure. To add even a little more comfort beyond that, we can share that the adhesion onto Plexiglas remained solid even when thinning with one part paint to two parts water, or a 1:2 ratio. Which would feel like a fairly fluid wash for most people. As you can see, the concerns around thinning with water can often be over stated, especially if using our Heavy Body or Fluid Acrylics and keeping the ratio to 1:1 or less. And even then, one can usually get away with going even further. However, because every application can be unique, one can always do an easy test to make sure there are no problems. To do this create a test piece with a similar surface that you want to test, then apply a few different colors both at full strength and then at 2:1, 1:1, 1:2, and 1:3 ratios of paint to water. Allow to fully dry. At this point we typically test for adhesion at 24 hrs, 3 days, 1 week, and 2 weeks. If the paint passes the adhesion test at, say, 3 days, there is rarely a need to continue testing out further. A simpler, more down and dirty test, can be done scoring the paint with an “X” using an X-Acto blade, then apply masking tape over the center, burnish, then lift. In both cases you are seeing if the paint comes off. If not, then you have very good adhesion and no reason to believe that adhesion will lessen over time. You can also try rubbing the film with a wet Q-Tip to see if you get color lift, which can be another sign of an underbound film. Please note: Even though our Heavy Body and Fluid Acrylics are quite robust, when it comes to thinning, there are some products where we do recommend a lower level of water, such as our Acrylic Gesso which should not be thinned with more than 20% water, or our OPEN acrylics where we recommend a limit of two parts paint to one part water, or a 2:1 ratio. And of course we cannot comment about safe levels for thinning paints from other manufacturers. Best regards, Sarah Sands Technical Services Supervisor GoldenPaints.com" Hope this helps Will

+Antoinette Mangion My pleasure Antoinette, really pleased you've been finding them helpful in you paintings. Cheers, Will

Hi Diane, I don't usually add blue to the raw umber, on occasion I muted down with a touch of black. Cheers, Will

👊 great stuff

Hi Fatima, I tend to use decorators brush for a coloured ground, but the sky flow brush would also work well. Cheers, Will

Hi Meena, for acrylic paintings I apply an isolation coat (using soft gel gloss from Golden paints) and then apply a varnish ontop of that. Cheers, Will

I've never tried guitar, maybe a missed calling!

Hi TheMark180, yes the white on the canvas is a white gesso. If you're working on a raw canvas and applying the gesso you can also mix in a colour with it. I find it best to apply a white gesso first, then the tonal ground so you have the glow of the white underneath the surface. Hope this helps, Cheers, Will

peculiarpoppy You're welcome. Cheers, Will

+Virginia Cardenas Hi Virginia, pleased you found it helpful, if you have a look on my blog there are a number of articles about varnishing acrylic and oil paintings. Look under the 'Acrylics' tab and scroll to the 'varnish & isolation coat' section Cheers, Will

Hi Eugenia, this is from Sarah Sands, Technical Services Supervisor from Golden Paints: "The cautions against thinning acrylics beyond 30% (or some similar figure) is common to run across and is something we often find ourselves having to correct, at least in regards to our own paints. We cannot, of course, comment about other manufacturers’ products, where performance can differ. So the following is really only about our brand and is not a blanket statement.The first thing to note is that our Fluids and Heavy Body acrylics can easily be thinned up to one part paint to one part water, or a 1:1 ratio, and maintain excellent adhesion onto absorbent surfaces. In fact, even when testing this on a non-absorbent material like Plexiglas, the paints still formed good films with no adhesion failures after being allowed to fully cure. To add even a little more comfort beyond that, we can share that the adhesion onto Plexiglas remained solid even when thinning with one part paint to two parts water, or a 1:2 ratio. Which would feel like a fairly fluid wash for most people.'You can read more about the absorbency of your paint surface here: willkempartschool.com/getting-started-how-to-choose-what-to-paint-on/Hope this helps,Will

Hi Will and thank you very much for all your explanations and specially for answering my comment, it is very intresting to know that this golden paintings aloud more water, thinking of paintings that we want to last in time I got in panic after I learnt about too much water afecting the durability. Now my problem would be that in Costa Rica we have not so many options for artists products, but at least I know that somewhere golden paints exist!!! thanks a lot for everything!!!!

My pleasure Eugenia, pleased it helped. Will

Thanks very much, pleased you found it helpful. Will

Thanks Fatima, hope it helps with your paintings. Cheers, Will

Hi Vic, 1) How much ground comes through in the final painting? It depends how much you want to show depending on the scene or effect you're after. 2) Isn't there a concern that the ground color will influence the subsequently applied color unless the applied color is very opaque? Yes, that's what you want, the ground colour to influence the subsequent colour. Cheers, Will

Hi Catherine, yes you can if you have pooling or want to keep a more fluid flow. Click through to the article on the blog (link under the video) and near the bottom are some 'Pro tips' on using mediums with a coloured ground. Cheers, Will

Glad it was helpful Colm

Hi Daniel, yes is you have a very watery mix on the final layers of your painting it can cause a less weak paint bond (usually more than 50%), this is why I use a glazing liquid to dilute the paint for final finishing, however, for this early stage of the painting it is absolutely fine as we want to paint to 'stain' the canvas so the paint film will be within the canvas layer. For my paintings I use a fluid acrylic (demonstrated in the video) which has more acrylic binder for a more fluid effect, if you want to be 100% binder secure you can also use a 'hi-flow' acrylic that is more like an ink consistency, but as most beginners are using a standard heavy body paint you're good to go just with the water. Hope this helps, Will

So pleased you've been enjoying them Diana. Will

Uri Henig Hi Uri, it can be any base tone that brings the whole painting together, so a soft yellow such as Naples yellow and white can work well. Cheers, Will

Hi Brohna, yes, the same principles of colour mixing apply to acrylics and oils so you could work through the lessons in oil aswell. Cheers, Will

Hi John, no, as I'm working onto an absorbent surface of the canvas. I don't tend to use Gac in the ground, I prefer a matte finish to the first stages so the next layers can adhere well. Here are some details regarding acrylic to water ratio from Golden paints technical director: "The cautions against thinning acrylics beyond 30% (or some similar figure) is common to run across and is something we often find ourselves having to correct, at least in regards to our own paints. We cannot, of course, comment about other manufacturers’ products, where performance can differ. So the following is really only about our brand and is not a blanket statement. The first thing to note is that our Fluids and Heavy Body acrylics can easily be thinned up to one part paint to one part water, or a 1:1 ratio, and maintain excellent adhesion onto absorbent surfaces. In fact, even when testing this on a non-absorbent material like Plexiglas, the paints still formed good films with no adhesion failures after being allowed to fully cure. To add even a little more comfort beyond that, we can share that the adhesion onto Plexiglas remained solid even when thinning with one part paint to two parts water, or a 1:2 ratio. Which would feel like a fairly fluid wash for most people. As you can see, the concerns around thinning with water can often be over stated, especially if using our Heavy Body or Fluid Acrylics and keeping the ratio to 1:1 or less. And even then, one can usually get away with going even further."Sarah Sands, Golden paints. Hope this helps,Will

You can see a more muted ground for a Winter scene here: willkempartschool.com/how-to-paint-a-snowscene-in-acrylic/ Cheers, Will

Thank you so much Cornelius

Yes, gesso already on the canvas before the coloured ground is applied.

You're very welcome!

Hi Komal, have a look on my website for willkempartschool.com/how-to-choose-a-basic-acrylic-palette-for-colour-mixing/ cheers, Will

Thankyou :)

My pleasure Meena. Will

Thanks for watching!

You're welcome Pyrofella, pleased you found it helpful, Cheers, Will

cheers Michael

You are so welcome Eileen, really hope you find the lessons helpful. Will

Thanks, you're very kind Will

Pleased you enjoyed it Lynn Will